Topic category:  Government/Politics

When it comes to reporting ACORN news, Fox News's Bill O'Reilly's been lumbering instead of leading.

Last year he was oblivious.

On October 22, 2008, in "ACORN WHISTLEBLOWER: OBAMA’S THIRD STRIKE? (October 22, 2008) (www.webcommentary.com/php/ShowArticle.php?id=gaynorm&date=081022), I reported that The New York Times had killed an Obama/ACORN expose on which its reporter, Stephanie Strom, had been working with ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief.

"Yesterday, Anita advised me, Ms. Strom apologetically canceled a meeting for today and explained that New York Times policy was not to publish what might be a game changing article this close to the election.

"I think that should be in a footnote to The Times' 'All the news that’s fit to print' motto.

"Joe the Plumber was attacked to distract from Obama’s revealing answer to his respectful and relevant question about taxes.

"If Anita is accused of being a racist, I invite anyone who thinks it’s true to google her and especially to check her art posted online, with some text, before this year.

"To the list of Obama's 'A' problems (Alinsky, Ayers, ACORN), add Anita."

"The King of Cable" wasn't paying attention.

About five months later--much too late to help the voters-- he "discovered" the story (and did not acknowledge that it had been available on the Internet since October 22, 2008).

Yes, O'Reilly surely is a far better choice to watch than MSNBC's Keith Olbermann.

But that's not saying much.

Although O'Reilly has been unduly cautious and definitely disappointing when it comes to ACORN (especially its relationship with now President Obama and his presidential campaign), perhaps O'Reilly's rivalry with his nemesis, now Senator Al Frankin (D. Minn.) will change that a bit.

Now O'Reilly is questioning, cautiously, whether his nemesis, Franken, owes his United States Senate seat to ACORN.

Ex-ACORN insider and now ex-radical, Ms. MonCrief reported on that about TEN months ago, in "More ACORN Antics: Minnesota Style" (December 19, 2008), at www.anitamoncrief.blogspot.com.

Ms. MonCrief:

"As the world awaits the 'final' word on the Senate race in Minnesota, I find myself once again to be walking down a path that has rotten acorns crunching under my feet. As reports rolled in last week that more votes have been found for a certain candidate, I wondered how close the Canvassing Board is to the ACORN office. I also wondered it they were delivered in a red van with a familiar black symbol.

"During 2007, ACORN's sister organization Project Vote began operating what some would consider to be a national office out of Minnesota. The newly created position of Direct of Special Projects was given to Kevin Whelan- a long time ACORN golden boy and Zach Polett's right hand man. Project Vote also had a separate development team in MN for fundraising. The amount of resources sent to this office appeared to be for setting up a national office and much time was spent cultivating donors just for our work in this one state.

"For some this may not be remarkable, but one must remember that Project Vote did the same thing in Ohio and the results produced an ACORN friendly Secretary of State, who rode into office on the shoulders of a minimum wage campaign.

"In December of 2006 during a year end ACORN Political Operations report the Working Families party presented a powerpoint slide to the staff that boasted:

'NY and CT WFP Teamed Up to Help TAKE BACK CONGRESS

Targeted four seats and delivered the Working Families message door-to-door Universal Health Care Raising the Minimum Wage Fairer Taxes, and Fair Trade

The result: Three new Democratic members of Congress owe us … big time.'

"In the same presentation the Working Families Party stated that in New York, the 'Working Families used its political clout to win a bill that will let ACORN organize 50,000 child care workers!' Sounds like ACORN and SEIU up to their old tricks.

"ACORN and Project Vote's strategic plan may not involve direct contact with any candidate in Minnesota, but history has shown that Republicans are not as supportive of their agenda, and ACORN will further their agenda at all costs. Project Vote also has a donor list for the Minnesota DFL Party and seemed to be using it to cultivate donors for their Minnesota Voter Registration Program.

"In 2006 Project Vote conducted a study on provisional ballots, the same type that appear to be popping up all over Minnesota. I also testified about the knowledge that there was also a high level of Fraud in absentee ballots and management stated that they would need to 'plan accordingly.'

"Dirty tricks and stealing elections? Nonpartisan funds used for partisan activities? Poor minorities used as pawns by the rich? If it looks like a crook and acts like one: it must be ACORN."

President Obama and ACORN must be delighted that O'Reilly did not pursue Ms. MonCrief's statement on his show last June that for years ACORN has been "an unofficial arm of the Democratic Party" or--gasp!--the relationship between Obama and the his presidential campaign and ACORN.

Ms. MonCrief is much braver, bolder, fresher and smaller, but O'Reilly fans can take some solace: he's much...taller.

Michael J. Gaynor

Biography - Michael J. Gaynor

Michael J. Gaynor has been practicing law in New York since 1973. A former partner at Fulton, Duncombe & Rowe and Gaynor & Bass, he is a solo practitioner admitted to practice in New York state and federal courts and an Association of the Bar of the City of New York member.

Gaynor graduated magna cum laude, with Honors in Social Science, from Hofstra University's New College, and received his J.D. degree from St. John's Law School, where he won the American Jurisprudence Award in Evidence and served as an editor of the Law Review and the St. Thomas More Institute for Legal Research. He wrote on the Pentagon Papers case for the Review and obscenity law for The Catholic Lawyer and edited the Law Review's commentary on significant developments in New York law.

The day after graduating, Gaynor joined the Fulton firm, where he focused on litigation and corporate law. In 1997 Gaynor and Emily Bass formed Gaynor & Bass and then conducted a general legal practice, emphasizing litigation, and represented corporations, individuals and a New York City labor union. Notably, Gaynor & Bass prevailed in the Second Circuit in a seminal copyright infringement case, Tasini v. New York Times, against newspaper and magazine publishers and Lexis-Nexis. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed, 7 to 2, holding that the copyrights of freelance writers had been infringed when their work was put online without permission or compensation.

Gaynor currently contributes regularly to www.MichNews.com, www.RenewAmerica.com, www.WebCommentary.com, www.PostChronicle.com and www.therealitycheck.org and has contributed to many other websites. He has written extensively on political and religious issues, notably the Terry Schiavo case, the Duke "no rape" case, ACORN and canon law, and appeared as a guest on television and radio. He was acknowledged in Until Proven Innocent, by Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson, and Culture of Corruption, by Michelle Malkin. He appeared on "Your World With Cavuto" to promote an eBay boycott that he initiated and "The World Over With Raymond Arroyo" (EWTN) to discuss the legal implications of the Schiavo case. On October 22, 2008, Gaynor was the first to report that The New York Times had killed an Obama/ACORN expose on which a Times reporter had been working with ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief.

Gaynor's email address is gaynormike@aol.com.